ESPN HEADED FOR THE "GREAT OUTDOORS" WITH NEW CONCEPT

ESPN announced the creation of the ESPN Great Outdoor
Games yesterday, a four-day event consisting of outdoor
sports competition in events such as bass fishing and
shooting. The games, to be held in Lake Placid, NY, will
feature $300,000 in prize money and will air on both ESPN
and ESPN2 in July and August, 2000 (ESPN). In Pittsburgh,
Chuck Finder writes that whether the games will run on ABC
"remains to be seen." ESPN Senior VP Jeff Ruhe: "It is not
contemplated that this will have an ABC element" (PITTSBURGH
POST-GAZETTE, 1/21). ESPN will hire outside organizations
to run the event but will own the rights (N.Y. TIMES, 1/21).
Ruhe notes that "if the 17 hours" of planned games
programming "deliver upbeat Nielsen ratings," the network
will make the Great Outdoor Games an annual event, similar
to the X Games. Ruhe credits the creation of the Games as a
result of the ratings growth of ESPN's Saturday morning
block of outdoor sports programming (VARIETY, 1/21). In
Baltimore, Milton Kent writes, "Mark your calendar, and
gather the family around for one of the great events in the
history of recorded sports" (BALTIMORE SUN, 1/21).